Farmers praised for cirl bunting increase

Farmers in Devon and Cornwall have been praised following a significant increase in the number of cirl buntings.

According to latest figures from the RSPB, the national cirl bunting population has increased by 25% since 2003, reaching 862 breeding pairs in 2009.

Despite this increase the species remains confined to a small area of Devon and Cornwall.

The rise in numbers follows a joint campaign by the RSPB and Natural England to help local farmers manage their land in ways that provide year-round food supplies and breeding habitat for these threatened birds.

Under the Cirl Bunting Species Recovery Programme, led by the RSPB and co-funded by Natural England, advisers visit farmers to help them choose the best agri-environment scheme options.

These include grasslands, which provide invertebrates for summer food, and weedy overwinter stubble, which provide essential seed food during the colder months.

“We have learnt a lot in recent years about cirl buntings and how to protect their habitat, and now that is paying off. But we can’t take all the credit. The cirl bunting is a farmland bird and it’s down to the work farmers on the Devon coast have put in on their land that this comeback has been possible.

“Farmland birds as a group have declined by 50% in the past 40 years. If we can halt the decline in a dangerously threatened species like this one then there is hope for all the endangered birds in our countryside.”

Tom Tew, chief scientist of Natural England, said: “The recovery of the cirl bunting shows what can be achieved when farmers and conservationists work together to target specific land management measures in the right place.”